This disclosure relates to instant messaging and, more particularly, to delivery and handling of instant messages. Instant messaging has become widely adopted across both work and personal environments. The ability of a user to quickly initiate an instant messaging session with another user or to participate in group chats has elevated the importance of instant messaging within many organizations. Many users rely extensively on instant messaging for communicating with other users and often favor instant messaging over other forms of communication such as electronic mail.
The success of instant messaging as a collaborative tool has led to situations where users are inundated with instant messages. A recipient may receive a large volume of instant messages from a single sender or from a variety of different senders. As instant messages begin to “stack up” in one's client device, keeping pace with potentially several and different ongoing instant messaging conversations becomes difficult, time consuming, and potentially distracting. In some cases, the collaborative benefits initially attained through the use of instant messaging may be lost.